HomeTop StoriesUS Housing Market In Freefall As New Buyers Can’t Afford A Home

February 21, 2019

US Housing Market In Freefall As New Buyers Can’t Afford A Home

After NAHB’s optimism rebounded sharply earlier this week, all eyes are on this morning’s existing home sales data for any signs of optimism. Alas, with consensus expecting a tiny rebounding in January following December’s sharp drop, the deterioration in the US home market continued continued, and January existing home unexpectedly dropped 1.2% (exp. +0.2%), to 4.94 million, missing expectations of a rebound to 5.00 million.

After December’s revision higher to 5.00 million, the January SAAR of 4.94 million was the first sub-5MM print since 2015, while the parallel pending home sales series confirms even more weakness is in store.

Needless to say, it is very troubling that Americans are unable to afford home purchases with the 30% mortgage at just 4.5%, and suggests that even if inflation picks up, the Fed may have no choice but to keep rates flat to avoid a housing market crash.

As usual, NAR chief economist Larry Yun was optimistic, saying that he does not expect the numbers to decline further going forward. “Existing home sales in January were weak compared to historical norms; however, they are likely to have reached a cyclical low. Moderating home prices combined with gains in household income will boost housing affordability, bringing more buyers to the market in the coming months.”

One wonders what “gains in household income” he is talking about.

Meanwhile, properties are failing to sell as the slowdown spreads: Properties remained on the market for an average of 49 days in January, up from 46 days in December and 42 days a year ago. Thirty-eight percent of homes sold in January were on the market for less than a month.

Even so, Yun noted that this median home price growth was the slowest since February 2012, and is cautions that the figures do not yet tell the full story for the month of January. “Lower mortgage rates from December 2018 had little impact on January sales, however, the lower rates will inevitably lead to more home sales.”

Regional breakdown:

January existing-home sales in the Northeast increased 2.9 percent to an annual rate of 700,000, 1.4 percent below a year ago. The median price in the Northeast was $ 270,000, which is up 0.4 percent from January 2018.

the Midwest, existing-home sales fell 2.5 percent from last month to an annual rate of 1.16 million in January, down 7.9 percent overall from a year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $ 189,700, which is up 1.4 percent from last year.

Existing-home sales in the South dropped 1.0 percent to an annual rate of 2.08 million in January, down 8.4 percent from last year. The median price in the South was $ 214,800, up 2.5 percent from a year ago.

Existing-home sales in the West dipped 2.9 percent to an annual rate of 1.00 million in January, 13.8 percent below a year ago. The median price in the West was $ 374,600, up 2.9 percent from January 2018.

While total inventory grew for the sixth straight month, Yun says the market is still suffering from an inventory shortage. “In particular, the lower end of the market is experiencing a greater shortage, and more home construction is needed,” says Yun.

“Taking steps to lower construction costs would be a tremendous help. Local zoning ordinances should also be reformed, while the housing permitting process must be expedited; these simple acts would immediately increase homeownership opportunities and boost local economies.”

With existing-home sales accounting for about 90% of U.S. housing, it would seem Jay Powell’s dovish tilt just got more support, but at what point does bad news flip to being ‘bad news’ as growth hopes get hammered.

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Political correctness is….

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Isn’t there a better way to vote?

by Witsnews

Voter fraud is on the rise, the same politicians keep getting elected over & over & over again….and we wonder why nothing ever gets done in Washington. One has to wonder how much of an influence voter fraud and the illegal vote has had on our current political state in this country.

Isn’t it time to change the way we vote, so that our votes actually count, instead of being effectively nullified by voter fraud?

Here are a few suggestions:

Every state should start requiring photo ID and proof of citizenship from every voter. (no-brainer)

Hand stamping procedures or similar tools for verifying one vote per person should be implemented in all states.

Early voting by mail, and absentee voting should be strictly limited to only those cases where legitimate need is proven. “Ballot harvesting”, a favorite among Democrats in California which allows anyone to collect absentee ballots unsupervised, should be outlawed.

Voting machines:

Any state using electronic voting machines should require that the machines provide multiple copy paper receipts showing a date/time stamp, voting location, machine ID number, and list all the candidate choices the voter selected.

One copy remains with the voter who initials all the receipts to verify that the information on the receipts is correct, and one copy goes to a representative of each political party.

After the electronic votes are all tabulated, staff from each political party represented in the election proceed to hand count each and every voter receipt while being monitored by reps from each of the parties. The totals from the hand counts are then compared to the results of the machine tabulations, and all results are immediately released to the public.

If the winners from the machine tabulations match those found from the hand counts from all political parties, then an official winner is declared.

If there is a discrepancy from the hand counts of any of the political parties large enough to show a different winner than what the electronic tabulations showed, then an equal number of staff from all parties represented must combine to do an additional final manual re-count.

The results of this final count determine the official winner. If the electronic tabulations are overruled by the results of the hand counts, all voting machines involved in the process are repaired or replaced immediately.

This is just a short list. There are many other options which should be considered such as increased use of security cameras, volunteer programs to provide proper oversight, legal aid for filing fraud reports, etc.

The future of the republic is at stake here, we have to get this right…and soon.

Socialism is….

When the Muslims Came….

Before:

and After:

When the Muslim refugees came, I didn’t protest….they were just poor refugees.

When they built mosques and Islamic cultural centers, I didn’t protest….they had the right to pray to Allah.

When they demanded only Halal food in schools, I didn’t protest….they can only eat what the Koran allows them to eat.

When they gang-raped women and girls, I didn’t protest…..rapes occur in every culture, and they have nothing to do with Islam.

When they carried out terror attacks, I didn’t protest….it was only a few extremists, who didn’t represent true Islam.

When they demanded Sharia Law zones, I didn’t protest….they needed their own space, and we live in a free country.

When they took their seats in government, I didn’t protest…..they have a right to be represented.

When they introduced Islamic Sharia Law, demanding that it apply to the entire population…….it was too late for me to protest.

The duty of a true Patriot….

Meet the U.S. Congress….

Feminists say….

Do you really want to know?

Worth The Short Read:

“America, The Last Man Standing”

JFK’s Words of Wisdom

Lutheran Minister Richard Wurmbrand On The Threat To Freedom

Russian Novelist And Historian Alexander Solzhenitsyn Cautioned The U.S.

Theodore Roosevelt’s Thoughts On Civilization, America, & The Future

It’s been over seven years. Do you realize that 300 tons of radioactive water from Fukushima is still being pumped into the Pacific Ocean every day? The ocean is dying. Why hasn’t there been more of an international effort to help Japan contain this disaster?

FARMLANDS – Documentary About The Plight Of South African Farmers – by Lauren Southern

Bill Cooper 9/11 Broadcast As It Happened – Maybe The Only Real Truth That Was Heard That Day:

Still believe that two aluminum planes took down three steel skyscrapers in perfect demolition-style free fall, and turned the buildings and their contents into dust…without the assistance of some other type of destructive force? – Where Did The Towers Go? – by Dr. Judy Wood – Hardcover

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In case you were wondering what your country might be like without 2nd Amendment rights, just look at history. Support the NRA – https://home.nra.org/

Slavery, Terrorism & Islam – by Dr. Peter Hammond – Paperback

Western Civilization is
under a full frontal
assault, and the leftists
are the ones holding
the door wide open to
their own demise!

Islam is not a religion,
nor is it a cult. Islam
has religious, legal,
political, economic and
military components.

Islamization occurs when
there are sufficient Muslims
in a country to agitate for
their so-called “religious rights”.

When politically correct and
culturally diverse societies
agree to “reasonable” Muslim
demands for their “religious
rights”, they also get
the other components under
the table.

Here’s how it works:

As long as the Muslim
population remains around 1%
of any given country, they
will be regarded as a
peace-loving minority and
not as a threat to anyone.
In fact, they may be
featured in articles and
films, and stereotyped for
their colorful uniqueness:

From 5% on, they exercise
an inordinate influence in
proportion to their percentage
of the population. They
will push for the introduction
of halal (clean by Islamic
standards) food, thereby
securing food preparation jobs
for Muslims. They will increase pressure on supermarket chains to feature it on their shelves…along with threats for failure to comply:

At this point, they will work
to get the ruling government
to allow them to rule
themselves under Sharia, the
Islamic Law. The ultimate
goal of Islam is to convert
the world, and to establish
Sharia law over the entire
Earth.

When Muslims reach 10%
of the population, they
will increase lawlessness
as a means of complaint
about their conditions. Any
non-Muslim action that
offends Islam will result
in uprisings and threats: